Hi Blake,

I have an '84 7-passenger.  Please let me know what vintage air unit you
plan on using.

John
----- Original Message -----
From: "Blake Heinlein" <blakeheinlein@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 7:08 PM
Subject: Re: Aftermarket Air Conditioning

> I'm located in Sacramento, CA. I'll definately keep you in the loop. I'm
> currently looking at replacing the entire air handling box in the dash.
> Vintage Air has a unit with a heating and cooling coil together that is
> all
> controlled electronically, like modern cars. That is what I'm looking at.
> --
> Blake Heinlein
> http://blakeheinlein.googlepages.com/
>
>
>
> On 12/29/06, Craig Morton <rangermorton1972@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> Blake:
>>
>> I have a similar desire and have talked to the folks at Vintage Air. I
>> hear good things about their products from the hot rod community but was
>> never able to find anyone who had put their system in a Vanagon. If you
>> go
>> forward with this project I would certainly like to know how you make out
>> and how well the single, under dash system performs.
>>
>> Craig
>>
>> *Blake Heinlein <blakeheinlein@GMAIL.COM>* wrote:
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I know this may seem very out of season but I've started planning for
>> next
>> summer.
>> I have an 84 Westy and I'm looking at installing aftermarket indash air
>> conditioning in it. I currently have none. I want to have cold air
>> blowing
>> on the driver and passenger not to worried about the temperature in the
>> back
>> of the van.
>>
>> I've been looking at complete new systems from both of the companies
>> below
>> and prices are ranging from $1000 to $1500 for all of the parts without
>> labor to install. I'm planning on installing it all myself and then
>> having
>> the initial charge and inspection performed by a very reputable A/C
>> repair
>> shop in Sacramento.
>>
>> http://www.europeancoolerair.com/
>> http://www.vintageair.com/index.asp
>>
>> Another option I have considered is scavenging a used Behr system and
>> installing it myself. After refurbishing everything on the Behr unit I'll
>> probably be up to $1000 and still have some used parts that may fail in
>> the
>> future.
>>
>> I know this seams like an ambitious project and many people say why not
>> just
>> sell the van and buy one with air conditioning. Here is why. I bought my
>> van
>> about 8 years ago, I've replaced or rebuilt every mechanical part on the
>> van
>> and things have been working flawlessly over the last three years. If I
>> got
>> a different van I would have to start this process all over again.
>>
>> So here is my question. Has anyone on the list done this before? How was
>> the
>> experience? Any pitfalls? Would you do it again? Any recommendations?
>>
>> If I do this I plan to document it well and put together some web pages
>> on
>> how it went to help building on the collective Vanagon knowledge.
>>
>> Happy Travels!
>>
>> --
>> Blake Heinlein
>> http://blakeheinlein.googlepages.com/
>>
>>
>>
>